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SAN JOSE, Calif. — The infamous “Chili Finger Lady” is in hot water again, accused of cooking up
another yarn that authorities find less than palatable.

Last time, the lie was about a severed finger. This time, prosecutors say, it’s about a wounded
ankle.

Anna Ayala, the woman behind the notorious 2005 hoax involving a segment of human finger
strategically placed as an extortion-flavored ingredient in a bowl of Wendy’s chili, is again
behind bars. She was arrested Thursday on charges of being an accessory to a felony and filing a
false police report.

Santa Clara County prosecutor Bret Wasley said her new lie wasn’t for financial gain, but rather
to protect her 26-year-old son, whom police found suffering from a gunshot wound to the ankle in
front of an Alviso, Calif., home where he lived with his mom.

Guadalupe “Junior” Reyes has a previous burglary conviction, Wasley said, and is not allowed to
possess a gun. He told officers he was approached by a pair and shot “for no rhyme or reason,”
Wasley said.

Mom backed up the story. She gave vivid descriptions of two men, and detectives came up with one
match.

“I don’t know if it was someone she knew who she described or how she came up with the
description,” Wasley said.

Ayala’s attention to nonexistent detail is well-documented. Back in her chili-finger days, she
regaled reporters with gross-out descriptions of the digit being “crunchy.”

Ayala, now 47, and her son mucked up their stories when they revisited the matter for
detectives, Wasley said. The possible shooter had come up clean in a gunshot-residue test.

Reyes eventually admitted he shot himself with a gun he wasn’t supposed to have.